Psycho-Babble Social Thread 689283

Shown: posts 1 to 25 of 26. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

face recognition

Posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12


here is a short face recognition test you can do online:

http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/facetests/myabilities.php

it is quite fun if you haven't done an experiment before
(and fairly fun if you have)
i did better than i thought i would do
:-)

they are trying to find people with developmental prosopagnosia (difficulty recognising faces). apparantly... there are more people out there with developmental prosopagnosia than acquired, and some people don't realise they have developmental prosopagnosia because they learn to identify people from other cues such as hair, build, posture, or gait.

 

Re: face recognition » alexandra_k

Posted by Racer on September 26, 2006, at 1:50:00

In reply to face recognition, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12

That was interesting. I only got 78% on the old/new faces, but I did get 29 or 30 on the famous faces. That surprised me, but what really surprised me was that the only one I missed was Oprah -- the only non-white face. That disturbs me, that I missed the only face not of my own race. I like to think that I'm better than that, you know?

Thanks for posting that, Alex.

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by Declan on September 26, 2006, at 3:52:22

In reply to Re: face recognition » alexandra_k, posted by Racer on September 26, 2006, at 1:50:00

64% on the ones you couldn't recognise.
Didn't try the other ones, cultural differences and stuff.
I was astonished (and disappointed) I did so well.

 

Re: face recognition » Declan

Posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 6:57:17

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by Declan on September 26, 2006, at 3:52:22


> Didn't try the other ones, cultural differences and stuff.
> I was astonished (and disappointed) I did so well.

You get to choose between
1) I got it right
2) I got it wrong but I know the person
3) I got it wrong but I don't know the person

I was surprised how many people I knew. You selected to start with whether you were from the UK the US or OTHER. There were a lot of UK and US celebrity faces and I knew the names once it told me who they were, but I couldn't guess the names. I said I didn't know the person because I've never put the name to the face before, so I figured I didn't know the person.

I was interested to see how much / whether not knowing the people would make ones score come up low but with option 3 I think it is okay.

:-)

 

Re: face recognition » Racer

Posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 6:59:51

In reply to Re: face recognition » alexandra_k, posted by Racer on September 26, 2006, at 1:50:00

> I missed the only face not of my own race. I like to think that I'm better than that, you know?

I'm not sure it signifies anything.
But it was interesting there weren't many people of different races...
I think that generally speaking people do have a hard time distinguishing between different faces of other races compared with different faces of ones own race or perhaps the race one was raised in.

But I don't know...

I guess it would be easy enough to adapt the second experiment to see, huh.

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by ClearSkies on September 26, 2006, at 7:35:20

In reply to face recognition, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12

I got 100% on the famous faces (now you all know what I do while waiting in the grocery check out).

I scored 74% on the unknown faces, which sounds exactly right. I do OK IRL in recognizing unfamiliar faces - must be from all those years working in retail and doctors' offices. People really expect me to know who they are, even if I see them twice a year or less.

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by gardenergirl on September 26, 2006, at 9:30:12

In reply to face recognition, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12

100 percent on the familiar (I'm with you on grocery store mag cover browsing, CS).

80% on old/new. While I was taking that one, I felt I was doing poorly. My results were higher than I expected.

gg

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by Phil on September 26, 2006, at 10:18:53

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by gardenergirl on September 26, 2006, at 9:30:12

83 familiar
88 unfamiliar

 

Re: face recognition » ClearSkies

Posted by Phillipa on September 26, 2006, at 10:53:11

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by ClearSkies on September 26, 2006, at 7:35:20

People Magazine. Love Phillipa

 

Face recognition of celebrities

Posted by Declan on September 26, 2006, at 17:26:43

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by Declan on September 26, 2006, at 3:52:22

"Out of 30 faces, you correctly identified 17.
You were familiar with 28 of the people in this test.

If we exclude the ones you were unfamiliar with, you got 61% correct."


I am probably guilty of trying to do badly. I don't know what you do with people like this...maybe give them a prize as a punishment??

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by Deneb on September 26, 2006, at 17:57:55

In reply to face recognition, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12

Cool test.

I scored 81% for the famous faces and 77% for the unfamiliar faces.

I'm a bit below average, but I did much better than I thought on the unfamiliar face test. I was randomly pressing 1 and 2 for most of the faces. LOL

Okay, enough procrastination, back to my studies!

Deneb*

 

aw, doesn't anyone have prosopagnosia? :-( (nm)

Posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 18:37:47

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by Deneb on September 26, 2006, at 17:57:55

 

Re: Face recognition of celebrities » Declan

Posted by Lindenblüte on September 26, 2006, at 20:37:52

In reply to Face recognition of celebrities, posted by Declan on September 26, 2006, at 17:26:43

Declan, you give those people a 2 dollar gift certificate to a sushi bar.

bon appetit.

-Li

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by adrift on September 26, 2006, at 23:31:20

In reply to face recognition, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12

92% familiar
86% new/old

 

Re: face recognition

Posted by MidnightBlue on September 27, 2006, at 0:38:08

In reply to face recognition, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 0:30:12

75% familiar and 63% new/old. I have a life long history of not "seeing" people if they aren't in the proper context. People get upset when I don't speak to them and think I'm stuck up. So am I just half blind? shy? or a snob?

MidnightBlue

 

Re: face recognition » MidnightBlue

Posted by alexandra_k on September 27, 2006, at 0:43:58

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by MidnightBlue on September 27, 2006, at 0:38:08

> 75% familiar and 63% new/old. I have a life long history of not "seeing" people if they aren't in the proper context. People get upset when I don't speak to them and think I'm stuck up. So am I just half blind? shy? or a snob?

No earthly idea.
You could contact them about being a participant if you want to get screened properly to make sure you don't have some kind of face recognition problem.

Otherwise... Is it just about people. I mean... Do you need glasses?

Otherwise... It could be about attention. I need glasses but even more so I wander around thinking and not paying much attention to what is going on around me... Maybe you have your mind on other matters?

 

Re: face recognition » Racer

Posted by 10derHeart on September 27, 2006, at 0:45:39

In reply to Re: face recognition » alexandra_k, posted by Racer on September 26, 2006, at 1:50:00


Condaleeza Rice is also a non-white face :-)

I doubt it's meaningful, Racer. She probably didn't look 'right' to you - several of them I had to stare at till a feature looked familiar, as they appeared bloated, or something.....weird pictures used in some cases.

But it was fun - thanks Alex.

83% familiar for me. Missed Jim Carrey, of all people....and I love him!

 

Re: face recognition » MidnightBlue

Posted by Declan on September 27, 2006, at 1:58:33

In reply to Re: face recognition, posted by MidnightBlue on September 27, 2006, at 0:38:08

You beat me. 1%. Bugger.

 

Re: face recognition » alexandra_k

Posted by MidnightBlue on September 27, 2006, at 9:55:54

In reply to Re: face recognition » MidnightBlue, posted by alexandra_k on September 27, 2006, at 0:43:58

I've had glasses or contact lenses since I was in elementary school. Maybe I don't pay attention. Inattentive ADD?

MB

 

Re: face recognition » alexandra_k

Posted by Racer on September 27, 2006, at 10:26:34

In reply to Re: face recognition » MidnightBlue, posted by alexandra_k on September 27, 2006, at 0:43:58

> > > Otherwise... It could be about attention. I need glasses but even more so I wander around thinking and not paying much attention to what is going on around me... Maybe you have your mind on other matters?
>
>

I wear glasses, and they're coke bottle thick. But I was very surprised by my results, because I actually do have some trouble recognizing people. In fact, I often have to identify people by the way they move, rather than what they look like. From any distance at all -- like more than maybe 10 feet or so -- I have to go by how their movements "feel" to me, rather than the way someone looks.

That sort of thing fascinates me. Thanks again for posting it.

 

Re: face recognition » 10derHeart

Posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2006, at 3:14:19

In reply to Re: face recognition » Racer, posted by 10derHeart on September 27, 2006, at 0:45:39

> it was fun - thanks Alex.

Welcome :-)

 

Re: face recognition » MidnightBlue

Posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2006, at 3:16:02

In reply to Re: face recognition » alexandra_k, posted by MidnightBlue on September 27, 2006, at 9:55:54

> Maybe I don't pay attention. Inattentive ADD?

Maybe you just don't pay attention.
(At least thats my story and I'm sticking to it)

;-)

 

Re: face recognition » Racer

Posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2006, at 3:18:10

In reply to Re: face recognition » alexandra_k, posted by Racer on September 27, 2006, at 10:26:34


> That sort of thing fascinates me. Thanks again for posting it.

Welcome.

Psych experiements can be kinda fun. I didn't like doing them for credit at school because I was always paranoid about what they were testing me for (general intelligence? mental illness? racism?) One really has no idea and they could be fairly terrible at debriefing sometimes. But when you know exactly what they are testing for and you are anonymous it is a whole heap more fun :-)

 

Re: face recognition » alexandra_k

Posted by Lindenblüte on October 2, 2006, at 8:34:11

In reply to Re: face recognition » Racer, posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2006, at 3:18:10

I am very surprised that my face recognition is pretty average.

I think one thing that might help is living in places where the faces are all of a homogeneous race, but of a race different from mine.

When I go to Asia, I at first am over-reliant on voice, hairstyle, clothing, height to individuate and identify people, but gradually, I feel that they become more distinct, and I can perceive smaller differences than when I first landed.

Same things goes for African-American faces. I would love to learn more about how different facial and physiological characteristics are distributed in Africa. One of my friends (African-American) went to Senegal, and her facial features were so characteristically Ivory Coast (one particular ethnic group, in fact) that she was treated very differently than the other African Americans in her group.

I think it might help my ability to individuate Asian and African faces if I can somehow figure out which constellations of features are often found together, and use these to help tell people of the same race apart, at least until I get to know them better.

I am always amazed when I go to Asia, that people say I have blond hair. The thing is, when I get my hair colored, my natural color is right smack in the middle of the brown range. not even light brown. MEDIUM brown. So, it happens to caucasians too. I am put in a category of "light- haired" people and that category does not distinguish between blonde and brown. oops!

-Li

sidenote- alex, you can call me whatever you want :) ll, etc.

 

Re: face recognition » Lindenblüte

Posted by alexandra_k on October 3, 2006, at 3:58:19

In reply to Re: face recognition » alexandra_k, posted by Lindenblüte on October 2, 2006, at 8:34:11

> I am very surprised that my face recognition is pretty average.

Did you think you would be better or worse? I'm not very good at it but then I don't pay attention. I hadn't seen most of the famous people before though I'd certainly heard their names once they were mentioned.

> I think one thing that might help is living in places where the faces are all of a homogeneous race, but of a race different from mine.

I guess it would help you get better at identifying the faces of people from a different race. Or ethnicity as we like to say in NZ...

> When I go to Asia, I at first am over-reliant on voice, hairstyle, clothing, height to individuate and identify people, but gradually, I feel that they become more distinct, and I can perceive smaller differences than when I first landed.

Sometimes it is about knowing people. If you don't know very many people from a certain race then you might have trouble telling them apart. Once you get to know them differences become apparant though. I used to have friends who were identical twins. They 'looked' really very different to me once I got to know them. Even their faces.

> I think it might help my ability to individuate Asian and African faces if I can somehow figure out which constellations of features are often found together, and use these to help tell people of the same race apart, at least until I get to know them better.

Might do.

:-)


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